Library raised $13,000!
To the editor:
On behalf of the Friends of the Hopewell Public Library, I wish to thank everyone who contributed to making our spring fundraiser, "Art for Words," a success. We had an amazingly successful night for the library and for our community on Saturday raising over $13,000 for our library.
The Friends have had a tradition of not only raising much needed funds for the library but doing so in a way that brings our community together for a fun and entertaining event, be it in the form of a house tour or a literary event. It is amazing what nine busy women can do in their "free time"! The money the Friends raise goes directly to the library to purchase books, offer programs and enhance the services and facilities that our library offers. This year the Friends launched a unique endeavor: an art auction that brought this community together in a new and exciting way uniting two groups towards one cause: the strong and vital art community of this area with our library supporters.
Like all our events, this is not something that the Friends coordinate in isolation. Rather, it is the result of the efforts of so many in this community.
First, I’d like to thank the artists who so generously gave their remarkable works to the library. Their contributions were not only in art work donations but also in their enthusiasm for our idea and giving us hands on help in coordinating the event and even setting up. Thank you as well to our local businesses who have underwritten the event making it possible for all the proceeds of ticket sales and art sales to go directly to our library. We couldn’t have put this event together without the assistance and guidance of professionals in the art community, namely Ruth Morpeth of the Morpeth Gallery, Abby Frantz of the Hopewell Frame Shop, Jack Koeppel of Queenstown Gallery, and Michael Jacobs, the senior preparator of the Princeton University Art Museum who gave us invaluable assistance in the exhibitions and installations of the artworks. We are also indebted to Scott Prisco and the Prisco Group who loaned us the perfect location for the auction. We give special thanks to our local newspapers, in particular, Packet Publications’ Ilene Dube (Time Off) and Ruth Luse (Hopewell Valley News) who gave us incredible coverage letting the public know to save this date. This year we also were able to use the Internet to reach our patrons thanks to the Web expertise of Greg Vafis, who set up the Friends site and worked through the many glitches that the internet highway threw our way. This web site will continue to be used by the Friends as a resource to disseminate information on future events and activities for years to come.
Our deep gratitude also goes to Failte Coffeehouse and the library trustees, staff and director, Jenni Spencer, for their support and keeping track of the ticket sales these past few weeks.
The Friends thank musicians, Vince Janoski (for ushering us in the door to the sounds of bagpipes) and our band for the evening, "A Wink and a Nod," who played the perfect background music for reviewing art.
I personally want to thank the Friends themselves who worked tirelessly to make this evening happen. We have a group of amazing women who managed to balance the demands of their homes, jobs (and even delivering a baby) with the demands of this event working together as a team over the past few months.
Most of all, I thank our chairwomen Lisa Canzano and Gina Smith. They took a rough kernel of an idea, polished that gem with the inspiration and leadership that brings us here tonight. Many obstacles were thrown in their way but Gina and Lisa persevered and kept us all on track with their vision for what this event could be.
Finally, I thank the many people who came out to support our event. It is a wonderful feeling knowing we live in a community that so strongly supports and appreciates fine art and our library. We hope you went home having had a memorable evening with a beautiful artwork in hand to enjoy for years to come. Thank you!
Judy Karp, president, Hopewell Public Library Friends
Absence does make heart grow fonder
To the editor, friends and neighbors:
Thanks to the overwhelming support of the greater Hopewell Valley community, Pennington Day was back to celebrate its 25th anniversary!
After years of growth, the consensus seemed that Pennington Day may have become too large, too impersonal. Volunteers became more difficult to get and fewer local people wanted to get involved, resulting in a year with no Pennington Day.
Well, it appears absence does make the heart grow fonder. The response was tremendous and the group of people we had to work with wonderful. We would especially like to thank our committee chairs, volunteers, contributors, and of course our community services, police, public works, fire and rescue squads, and town administrators who were an enormous help.
With so much support, this year’s Pennington Day may not have seemed dramatically smaller, but we hope you found it to be more of a local event with more local vendors, crafts people and organizations.
We wanted to create an event where the community could mingle and have a good time while providing a channel for local nonprofit groups to raise funds through food sales, activities and crafts.
We hope that we succeeded in creating an enjoyable Pennington Day 2005 for you. Again, thanks to all the people that put in their time and effort to make it a success, one that we hope will be repeated yearly without further interruption.
David Haines, Albert Teixeira, co-chairmen, Pennington Day 2005
‘Full Circle’ was huge success
To the editor:
The Garden Club of Trenton’s Small Flower Show, "Full Circle," staged at the historic Hopewell Railroad Station on May 6 and 7 was a huge success thanks to the generous helpfulness of the residents and Maintenance Department of the Borough of Hopewell.
In addition to the public, the show was attended by exhibitors and judges from as far away as Delaware and Connecticut. These guests and dignitaries were impressed and charmed with the historic site that added so much to the show itself. This wonderful event would not have been possible without the cooperation of the Hopewell community and workforce, and, in particular, David Knights, our liaison to Hopewell Borough Council, whose facilitation was invaluable.
A million thanks and a round of applause to all who contributed to the "Full Circle" spring celebration at the Hopewell Railroad Station.
Carol Critchlow, Carol Lipson, co-chairwomen, "Full Circle" flower show
Wonderful facility
To the editor:
On May 2, DanceWorks of Mercer County was fortunate enough to have held our first annual dance recital in the new Performing Arts Center at Hopewell Valley Central High School.
At this time, we would like to thank the school board for allowing our students to perform in such a wonderful facility. We especially would like to thank Michael Hritz, Ryan Schwab and Billy Brown for all of their help and hard work.
Karen Martin, Suzie Schnoor, directors, DanceWorks
Assessing seniors’ needs
To the editor:
This concerns Walter Bittner’s recent letter to the editor regarding disproportionate services for seniors, compared to spending on children.
In the past I have seen various notes from (presumed) senior citizens complaining about disproportionate spending on the needs of our senior neighbors, and I have to wonder what, exactly, our senior neighbors want from the township? I ask this out of sincere curiosity what is it the seniors want the township to provide?
I call on the mayor of Hopewell Township to convene a special one-time meeting to meet with representatives of recreation and any other interested committee and a delegation of interested seniors to discuss the needs of seniors and to explore creative means to have those needs met. Some activities might be eligible for federal or state grants, while others may be eligible for private corporate sponsorship, and others may be able to be addressed with the anticipated windfall our recreation and open space funds will realize after the property reassessment is completed (since the assessed value, not tax assessment, will increase by an estimated 40 percent or more, the monies these assessments generate will increase accordingly).
In addition, I call on the various committees and other governing bodies to respect all the citizens that fund their activities, and not only publicly explain how a person can get their issue on the agenda for an upcoming meeting, but also to honor those requests in a timely fashion.
Finally, I call on seniors in the community to get more formally involved in local politics. I’d like to see a candidate run for office that specifically takes up the causes of our senior neighbors and fights for consideration from within the system. There are two Township Committee members whose terms expire this fall. Will anyone take up the cause and run for one of those vacancies?
Once the needs of our senior neighbors are known, formal responses can be formed to either meet those needs or explain why they cannot be met, hopefully we can all walk away with a better understanding of each other’s position on these matters and a more balanced approach to public spending.
Ken Hansen, Hopewell Township

